Stars fall on home ice

The Battlefords North Stars lost last night on home ice as they came up just short in a comeback attempt. The Humboldt Broncos held on for a 4-3 win.

There were a scary few moments in the third when Logan Schatz was taken off the ice on a stretcher. Word out of the Humboldt camp is that x-rays were negative and Schatz was able to return home last night. He went for a hit, missed his man and went head first into the boards. Luckily it sounds like he went in pretty slowly and he appears to have avoided serious injury.

The Stars had a pretty good first period aside from a few mistakes. The Broncos scored on their first shot past a screened Spencer Tremblay. And they scored twice short handed. Which was strange considering the North Stars power play looked excellent. They moved the puck as well as they have all season. But they were burned twice including a short handed penalty shot goal late in the first period that made it 3-1.

Reed Delainey scored the Stars only goal in the first period, his 15th of the year.

There was no scoring in the second period thanks in part to Ryan Rewerts. He took over after the first period as Tremblay was apparently injured. He looked to take an accidental knee to the head late in the first and was unable to continue after the intermission.

The Broncos scored early in the third to make it 4-1 and it seemed like that might be lights out for the Stars. They never give up though and thanks to some late penalty trouble for the Broncos the Stars scored twice on the power play. Nick Fountain batting home a loose puck in front and then a Brenden Heinrich point shot tipped off a Bronco and went past Jack Romanuik. The Stars had the net empty and attacking zone face-off but couldn’t get the tying goal.

All in all though they played pretty well. They created chances and should have scored more. Baxter Kanter missed what looked like a glorious chance in the first. Igor Leonenko a tap in back door in the second that should have been deposited in the net. Brock Weston returned to the lineup getting his legs under him while playing forward and his line with Kanter and Mitchell had a couple of chances in total.

It was a loss though at the end of the day and the Stars won’t be happy about losing at home to a divisional rival. They will also feel a little frustrated as they gave away a few goals thanks to mistakes and turnovers. It felt like they shot themselves in the foot.

They will look to focus on the process though instead of the results as there were positives to take from the game moving into this weekend’s busy schedule.